Draft Local Commercial Strategy Part B Shop Retail Assessment

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Draft Local Commercial Strategy

Part B – Shop Retail Assessment

City of Joondalup

June 2013

26 Mayfair Street West Perth WA 6005 PO Box 104 West Perth, WA 6872 Ph 08 9321 3011

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Document History and Status

Status

Issued To

Qty

Date

Reviewed

Approved

Draft

_{City of Joondalup}

₁

_6/1/2012

_SM/JS

_JS

Draft V2

_{City of Joondalup}

₁

_13/2/1012

_SM/JM

_JS

Revised Draft

_{City of Joondalup}

₁

_25/2/2012

_SM/JM

_JS

Final

_{City of Joondalup}

₁

_6/6/2013

_JM

_JS

Final (Updated) City of Joondalup

1 23/10/2013

RPS

Final (Update 2) City of Joondalup

1 27/11/2013

JC

DP

Report Details

File Name:

_{City of Joondalup Commercial Strategy}

Author:

Syme Marmion & Co/MGA Planners

(Updated by RPS)

Client:

_{City of Joondalup}

Name of Document:

_{Local Commercial Strategy Part B}

Document Version:

_Final

Project Number:

_P1044

Disclaimer

Syme Marmion & Co reports and advice are either of a general nature, or for specific circumstances. Syme Marmion & Co is not liable for any loss or damage incurred by any person relying on such reports or advice, except where they are created by Syme Marmion & Co expressly for that person. Nothing in these terms shall be taken as excluding, limiting or modifying any term, condition or warranty implied by any applicable act of parliament that cannot be so affected. To the extent that such a term, condition or warranty is implied, the liability of Syme Marmion & Co for breach of that term, condition or warranty is, where permitted, limited at the option of Syme Marmion & Co, to:

 the supplying of the relevant goods or services again; or  the payment of the cost of having the relevant goods or

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1. Introduction

1.1. Background

The City of Joondalup Draft Local Commercial Strategy consists of three parts. Part A - Background Research, Economic Analysis and Retail Needs Assessment, Part B – Shop retail recommendations, and Part C – Bulky Goods and Commercial Office recommendations.

1.2. Purpose

Part B includes interpretation of the Part A results and focuses on the formulation of appropriate strategies and measures to optimise economic benefit to businesses in the City of Joondalup from the available opportunities. This includes equitable and orderly distribution of retail floorspace for community and commercial benefit as well as maximising opportunities to expand other land use types in appropriate locations. Specifically the Local Commercial Strategy will:

Identify any specific amendments required to be made to the DPS to ensure the scheme reflects the City’s expectations for the long term economic growth of the city;

Identify measures and provisions that will be implemented through new DPS and policy statements; and

Achieve the desired outcomes identified in the Local Planning Strategy and SPP 4.2.

1.3. Report Structure

This report is structured as follows:

Section 2 records the key findings from Part A Background and Analysis; Section 3 provides the strategies for the Local Commercial Strategy;

Section 4 contains recommendations for measures and provisions to assist in the decision making framework; and

Section 5 describes the strategy map, proposed hierarchy and floor space of the centres within the City of Joondalup.

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2. Part A Summary and Implications

This section of the report records the key findings of the background and analysis (as detailed in Part A) and establishes the foundation for the strategies and recommendations on measures and provisions. In particular this section demonstrates the analysis undertaken to assess the City of Joondalup in terms of commercial floor space and centre hierarchy in accordance with SPP 4.2 Activity Centres in Perth and Peel:

Retail floor space; Hierarchy; and

Primacy of the Joondalup City Centre.

This report updates the analysis and modelling in the Part A report to reflect currently available data, including the 2011 Census and the 2012 WA Tomorrow series.

2.1. Desktop Review

Population growth within the North West Sub-Region of the Perth Metropolitan Region (Wanneroo, Joondalup and Stirling) is projected to result in an additional 168,000 persons between 2011 and 2026 under the WA Tomorrow publication1. However population projections vary and are continuously under review by the State’s demographers. Under Directions 2031 and Beyond, the population for the outer areas is planned to be lower than other forecasts due to the anticipated take up of infill in the inner areas, resulting in higher population projections for inner areas such as the City of Stirling and lower projections for the City of Wanneroo to 2031. According to the upper band of the 2012 WA Tomorrow population projections, the population of the region may be as high as 755,500 at 2026.

Discussions were held with the Department of Planning to determine the most appropriate assumptions and population projections to inform modelling associated with preparation of this strategy. The Department of Planning has produced population forecasts out to 2031, with forecasts in geographic units (Main Roads Transport Zones - MTZ) that form the basis for modelling exercises undertaken. The projections utilised accommodate and account for potential infill yields identified within the current Local Housing Strategy. The MTZ forecasts indicate that retail development within the City of Joondalup will need to meet demand arising from approximately 175,000 persons within the Joondalup LGA area by 2026; and a further 246,000 persons throughout both the City of Wanneroo and northern portion of the City of Stirling, who will be within catchment areas of activity centres within the Joondalup LGA area. This broadly assumes an amount of infill in the City of Stirling and Joondalup. This strategy makes recommendations limited to a 15 year timeframe from 2011 to 2026, given the higher uncertainty associated with projections beyond this timeframe.

The North West Sub-Region features a lack of employment opportunity and consequently has a low employment self-sufficiency rate (54% for the Sub-Region overall, but 45% in the combined Cities of Joondalup and Wanneroo as at 2011). The Directions 2031 and Beyond (WAPC, 2010) and Statement of Planning Policy Activity Centres for Perth and Peel SPP 4.2 (WAPC, 2010) together provide guidance in the form of employment self- sufficiency targets and the desired hierarchy of Activity Centres. For the North West Sub-Region, the target is 60%. The aim in Directions 2031 is to increase the diversity of employment opportunities outside the Perth city centre by encouraging businesses and jobs to shift to other centres in the upper levels of the hierarchy. This will encourage higher levels of employment self-sufficiency outside the capital, with significant benefits to be derived from the decentralisation of retail and employment. Benefits include reducing travel distance to work, reduced greenhouse gas production and petrol consumption, reductions in travel costs and travelling times; reducing road congestion; and increasing

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opportunities for non-car based commuting such as walking, cycling and public transport. The employment self-sufficiency in the City of Joondalup is discussed further in section 2.2.

Of the existing and planned Strategic Metropolitan and other Regional Activity Centres within the North West Sub-Region, the State and Local policy dictates that the Joondalup City Centre should function as the focal point for the attraction of investment and employment to the North West Sub-Region. On this basis, growth within the centre must occur at a rate consistent with its strategic role in relation to other activity centres within the Region; and to a level sufficient to enable it to perform its desired role as a higher order central business district within the Perth Metropolitan Region. Furthermore, the growth of other activity centres within the City of Joondalup should also be planned to reflect this higher level objective.

2.2. Economic Assessment

The City of Joondalup has over 83,000 employed persons in the labour force living within the City2. These employees work in various locations, including the City of Joondalup, other local government areas in the Perth metropolitan area and in regional locations. Employment within the City of Joondalup totals around 38,500 persons, with these employees coming from various locations in the Perth metropolitan area.

Employment self-sufficiency and self-containment are defined as follows:

Employment Self-sufficiency ratio = ____Local job stock_____ Employed local resident workforce

Employment Self-containment ratio = ___Employed local workforce also working locally____ Employed local resident workforce

With jobs located within the City of Joondalup (at 2011 Census) totalling 38,561 and a resident employed workforce of 83,033, the current employment self-sufficiency for the City of Joondalup is 46.5%. With 22,191 of the 83,033 persons in the employed resident workforce working locally, the employment self-containment is 26.7%. Some industries have higher employment self-self-containment than others with an employment “gap”, such as construction and mining. These industries are unlikely to be influenced through economic development within the City. Other industry types, such as Health Care and Social Assistance, Retail Trade and Education and Training, Public Administration and Safety, Professional, Scientific and Technical services could be priority target industries since the local workforce show a willingness to work locally and there is opportunity to fill the employment gap. Significant growth in the retail sector alone, particularly outside the main Joondalup City Centre (where fewer agglomeration opportunities exist) will not be sufficient or even appropriate. ABS data shows that employment in the retail industry grew relatively strongly in the decade to 2005, but has since plateaued. Retail jobs are now equally shared between full-time and part-full-time employment. Around 40% of the retail workforce is also employed on a casual basis.

The City is home to more than 13,400 registered businesses with strong health, education, tourism, retail, finance and professional service sectors. These businesses service a growing regional population of approximately 330,000 which is expected to increase to over 466,000 by 2026. The Joondalup 2022 Vision (Strategic Community Plan 2012 - 2022) is that the City will continue to grow as the Strategic Regional Centre providing a knowledge and service hub for the North West Sub-Region. The relevant strategic priorities of the 2012 – 2022 Plan are:

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Quality Urban Environment: o Quality Built Outcomes o Integrated Spaces o Quality Open Spaces o City Centre Development Economic Prosperity, Vibrancy and Growth:

o Primary Centre Status o Activity Centre Development o Destination City

o Regional Collaboration o Business Capacity

This recognises the agglomeration and scale economies that are only available with the concentration of higher order economic activity in a very small number of main locations in a relatively low density and sprawling environment such as the North West Sub-Region.

Directions 2031 and Beyond forecasts the need for an additional 69,000 jobs (to achieve a target employment self-sufficiency of 60%) in the North West Sub-Region based on an additional 65,000 dwellings within the region. The Joondalup City Centre provides the most viable location to target priority employment growth in order to achieve the 60% employment self-sufficiency target.

Recent draft work commissioned by the Department of Planning on employment targets for commercial centres in the North West Sub-Region identifies one scenario to bridge the employment gap to achieve the desired 60% self-sufficiency in the North West Sub-Region from 2006 to 2031. The jobs targets under this scenario shown for specific activity centres within the City of Joondalup are shown in the following table.

Table 1: Draft Activity Centre Employment Gap

Draft Employment Gap

Commercial Centre 2006 - 2031 Joondalup City 13,902 Warwick Grove 1,443 Whitfords City 2,597 Greenwood Village 138 Sorrento Quay 909

Currambine Market Place 465

Woodvale Park 238

Total Employment Gap 19,692

Source: Department of Planning North West Sub-Region Employment Allocation (Jan 2010)

The figures show that in order to meet the employment self-sufficiency targets contained in Directions 2031 and Beyond, a total additional 20,000 jobs will need to be generated within commercial activity centres in the City of Joondalup. These draft targets are proposed to inform the future economic development strategy for the Region and the individual employment targets by centre.

It should be noted that the above targets are only one potential scenario with other scenarios possible that have not yet been identified by the Department of Planning. One such possibility with a stronger strategic rationale is to increase the target for the Joondalup City Centre which would enable greater agglomeration

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economies to be realised and thus have a greater chance of success in actually achieving the employment targets and in particular the requirement for higher order jobs. This would allow the other centres to remain at smaller scale thus requiring less infrastructure investment on public transport and roads.

Assuming a ratio of between 25sq.m and 30sq.m of floorspace per employee, the need for a total of approximately 20,000 jobs within the City of Joondalup implies the need for 500,000sq.m to 600,000sq.m of additional floorspace. It is likely that the majority of this floorspace is most viably located in the Joondalup City Centre area.

2.3. Retail Needs Assessment

The rationale was to provide the City with a robust set of floorspace demand figures in the form of indicative maximum levels of PLUC 5 Shop Retail floor space. These indicative maximums would be provided for each activity centre within the City and based on the extent of population growth estimated by the WAPC. Proposals seeking to exceed the maximum indicative level of PLUC 5 Shop Retail floorspace for any activity centre (excluding the Joondalup Strategic Regional Centre), should demonstrate that any additional growth is viable through the preparation of a Retail Sustainability Assessment (RSA) consistent with the requirements of SPP 4.2 – Activity Centres for Perth and Peel. Among other requirements, the RSA must identify potential impacts on each affected competing activity centre.

Base data was gathered for the retail gravity modelling comprising of population projections called Metropolitan Land Use Forecasts (MLUFs), prepared by the Department of Planning (DoP); which are summarised in Table 2 below. In addition, PLUC 5 household expenditure data was sourced from MDS Market Data Systems for incorporation into the model, along with travel time data.

Table 2: Modelled Study Area –

WAPC Population Projections by Local government Area

LGA 2011 2021 2026

Joondalup 164,193 172,662 175,058

Wanneroo 151,199 219,407 242,827

Stirling (North Western edge only) 32,448 32,867 36,693

Source: Department of Planning Dwelling and Population Projections by MTZ September 2012 (Population in Permanent Private Dwellings), MGA Town Planners

The population projections, MDS expenditure data and travel times were utilised in the retail gravity model to distribute PLUC 5 Shop Retail expenditure among competing centres throughout the study area. The model is explained in detail in Part A of the draft Local Commercial Strategy. The results of the Gravity Model assessment, as well as the Centre Health Check, Retail Turnover Density and review of public submissions to the draft Local Commercial Strategy were examined and form the basis of recommended thresholds for PLUC 5 Shop Retail floorspace for each activity centre. These recommended thresholds are detailed in Section 5.

2.4. Activity and Commercial Centres Assessment

Joondalup City Centre Analysis

For Joondalup to meet its employment self-sufficiency targets it must attract economic activity that goes beyond the Region. This requires scale and diversity to achieve the agglomeration economies that flow

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from the physical integration of residential and commercial uses that is possible in a larger, more diverse centre. For example, vertical mixed use buildings contain a mix of residential and commercial uses. Typically, commercial uses (i.e. retail shops, restaurants, offices) are located on the ground floor, while residential units (flats or apartments) are located on upper levels. The following illustrations show some simple examples of a vertical mixed use building.

Figure 1: Vertical Integration - Mixed Use Buildings

The city centre environment provides a setting for effective informal information transfer and the regional transport connections that allow efficient labour access and business to business interaction.

The Joondalup City Centre is the only centre in the City of Joondalup that has these characteristics and the only one that can develop to a scale that can attract significant extra-regional economic activity. This is not easy to achieve and each element of the strategy must be coordinated to give the highest chance of success. It implies a strategy of favouring concentrating regional growth in the centre and building each of its aspects:

Encouraging a wide variety of commercial uses; Encouraging and maximising the retail offering;

Encouraging growth in the education and health services functions; and Encouraging and maximising inner city residential development.

The draft Joondalup City Structure Plan is required to be endorsed by the Western Australian Planning Commission prior to its finalisation and implementation. Following consideration of the draft structure plan and scheme amendment, the City has been requested by the Department of Planning (DoP) to modify the documents to operate as in ‘interim’ structure plan while an Activity Centre Structure Plan is prepared. These changes have been undertaken, and endorsement by the WAPC is currently awaited.

Under the proposed Structure Plan provisions, there will be an emphasis in the Central Core district on specialty shops, cinemas, personal service establishments, restaurants, alfresco dining and offices on the ground floor. The retail component of the Central Core will focus on a range of comparison, convenience and specialty retailing. The objectives of the Central Core district include allowing a broad range of appropriate land uses to encourage day and night activity. This includes encouraging tourism through the provision of accommodation and entertainment uses.

The Central Core district includes the Lakeside Shopping Centre which adds objectives to ensure that development:

Integrates with the urban and social fabric; Encourages new pedestrian connections; and

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In terms of scale, the Joondalup City Centre has the capacity to develop into a primary activity centre. If the Joondalup City Centre continues to grow at an average an additional 17,000sq.m of floorspace per annum, it could potentially reach a total floorspace of 860,000sq.m in around 20 years. This implies a commercial floorspace density of approximately 2,000sq.m per hectare, which is around one third of the commercial floorspace density currently achieved in the Perth CBD. However, to achieve this it requires a development strategy that builds on the strategic strengths of the centre to make it a primary metropolitan centre, a similar land area to the Perth CBD and with the equivalent of more than one sixth of the Perth CBD floorspace.

In terms of shop retail floorspace, the centre is already quite large with around 75,000sq.min the Central Core Area and another 40,000sq.m of larger format retail in other areas such as the industrial and Joondalup Drive precincts. In order to promote the Joondalup City Centre as a Primary Activity Centre, it is likely that the Shop Retail floorspace will need to increase to a scale that will enable a full range of specialty shops and department stores to locate in the city centre. A floorspace of approximately 125,000sq.m may be required in the retail core to enable this provision. Note that the approval of the Lakeside development will bring the total Shop Retail floorspace within the Central Core Area up to 99,464sq.m of approved Shop Retail floorspace. Land is available in the Quadrangle to cater for expansion of Other Retail uses.

There is substantial capacity for further development of the city centre for all classes of accommodation. Development opportunities identified in the draft Joondalup City Centre Structure Plan might have capacity for over 600,000sq.m of additional floorspace in the central city zones (i.e. those areas that are serviced by the Joondalup rail station) at full build-out. This might allow for, for example, around 3,500 residential apartments and an additional 250,000sq.m to 300,000sq.m of commercial floorspace accommodating 10,000 to 12,000 additional employees. This would give a total working population in the city centre core area of around 22,000 and a residential population of around 10,000. Given the mix of activities underpinning these figures, this would make it a vibrant and attractive centre, with the scale to attract enterprises from beyond the immediate regional catchment area. Commercial office development potential has been specifically examined in Part C of the Strategy.

The additional residential population would support around 7,000sq.m to 10,000sq.m of retail floorspace in the centre, further underpinning its viability, not only as the major centre for the corridor, but as a primary metropolitan centre.

Whitfords and Warwick Secondary Centres Analysis

The Whitfords Secondary Centre comprises approximately 25 hectares of land located on the corner of Marmion Avenue and Whitfords Avenue in Hillarys. The Whitfords Centre is classified as a secondary centre in SPP 4.2 and is fulfilling its role in the hierarchy by providing essential services for the catchment. The centre is consistent with the typical characteristics described in SPP 4.2 for a secondary centre, with the exception of not having a department store such as Myer or David Jones. The Centre did have an Aherns department store for some time during its history. Other potential additions to the centre to align better with SPP 4.2 would include the addition of major offices. However, with a current land use intensity of over 3,000sq.m per hectare, this may be challenging depending on parking demand requirements and public transport provision. It is also not as well located as the Joondalup City Centre for large scale establishment of major offices. Any major expansion of the Whitfords floorspace will have flow on impacts in terms of traffic and transport as well as other infrastructure and servicing requirements.

Overall, it appears that the current Shop Retail floorspace in the Whitfords City shopping centre is approximately 50,000sq.m. However, the complex also includes property to the west of Endeavour Road

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that houses Bunnings, Supercheap Auto and other large floorspace users. It is estimated that the total floorspace of the complex is between 77,000sq.m and 78,700sq.m based on a combination of City of Joondalup and WAPC Land Use Survey data. The Whitfords centre has a land use intensity of 3,088sq.m per hectare.

If the Shop Retail component is above, or increases to, 50,000sq.m , Shop Retial uses represent almost 66% of the total. SPP 4.2 sets a target of 40% for other uses where Shop Retail is over 50,000sq.m. The SPP 4.2 diversity target is not achieved in this scenario. Alternatively, if the Shop Retail floorspace is 49,924sq.m as provided by the City of Joondalup at July 2010, the 30% target is met but there is no room for Shop Retail expansion without increasing the target for other uses to 40%. If the centre should expand to 50,001sq.m, mixed uses would represent 34.9% so there would be a shortfall of other uses floorspace of approximately 6,700sq.m to meet a 40% target. For every proposed 100sq.m of Shop Retail floorspace thereafter, there would need to be an additional 67sq.m minimum of mixed Uses floorspace in the proposal in order to be in alignment with the 40% other uses SPP 4.2 diversity target for centres with over 50,000sq.m Shop Retail floorspace.

Gravity modelling undertaken as part of the development of the draft Local Commercial Strategy indicates that expansion of the Joondalup City Centre and the Whitfords Shopping Centre could result in significant trade impacts on centres including Currambine, Padbury, Hillarys, Mullaloo, Kingsway and Girrawheen. The implication of this assessment is that significant expansion should only occur at Joondalup City Centre.

However, public submissions to the draft Local Commercial Strategy indicated that the results of the Gravity Model assessment were potentially conservative and that the size of the current and potential future shortfall in shop retail is actually larger than originally modelled. Based on this consideration, some shop retail floorspace growth of Whitfords City Shopping Centre and the broader Activity Centre could be supported, likely in the order of 15,000 to 25,000 sq.m (taking total shop retail floorspace to the order of 65,000 to 75,000sqm). Expansion above this threshold is likely to have significant sustainability issues, not only on smaller order centres in the hierarchy, but also on Joondalup City Centre.

Details of impact of expansion of Shop Retail floorspace at the Joondalup City Centre on other centres is detailed in the draft Local Commercial Strategy Part A report. The inclusion of the St Mark’s school site in the Whitfords activity centre boundary would result in no significant additional office or other commercial uses being required for the Whitfords Centre under SPP 4.2 and any expansion plans could possibly only result in the addition of retail jobs.

The Warwick Secondary Centre has a land area of 16.5 hectares and is located at the corner of Erindale Road and Beach Road in Warwick. There is a substantial amount of vacant land at the Warwick centre and the centre may have some capacity for expansion. The Warwick Grove centre accommodates over 25,000sq.m of Shop Retail and good mix of other uses to have a total commercial floorspace of almost 54,000sq.m. With a floorspace totalling around 54,000sq.m and a land area of 16.48 hectares, the Warwick centre has an intensity of about 3,300sq.m per hectare. It currently achieves a Mixed Use ratio of 41.7%, which is well above the 30% target for centres with between 20,000sq.m and 50,000sq.m of Shop Retail floorspace.

Any major expansion of the Warwick centre will have flow on impacts in terms of traffic and transport as well as other infrastructure and servicing requirements. However, there is a substantial amount of vacant land at the Warwick centre and a structure plan would have the potential to facilitate the expansion and growth of shop retail at Warwick while maintaining the current strong Mixed Use ratio through the provision of some alternative uses, including higher density residential development (such as aged person accommodation).

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All Centres “Health Check”

The Part A report includes a detailed analysis of the overall health of each centre based on a range of indicators assessed through specific data and site visits. These include:

1. Floorspace intensity;

2. Vacant Floorspace proportion 3. Shop Retail proportion

4. Estimated Shop Retail turnover per square metre per annum; 5. Amenity/Function; and

6. Access/ Parking/ Public Transport.

The observations made at each of the centres considered the general condition and appearance of the centre, streetscape and frontage as well as how busy the centre appeared. The centres with “very poor” or “poor” overall health include:

 Beldon;

 Heathridge;

 Coolibah Plaza; and

 Ocean Reef.

Part A also considers the Canham Way service industrial complex, which is located adjacent to a residential area. Consideration should be given to promote redevelopment of the southern area of the complex to include commercial/business in order to provide a buffer between the service industrial and the residential area. However, any changes should not result in a net decrease of service/commercial floorspace in the complex, with those businesses being encouraged to locate within the northern part of the complex. Redevelopment of the southern portion may also provide a catalyst to revitalise the whole complex. The City of Joondalup may wish to investigate the potential of this further through a separate study.

2.5. Implementation of SPP 4.2

The Statement of Planning Policy Activity Centres for Perth and Peel (SPP 4.2) was released in conjunction with Directions 2031 and Beyond in August 2010 by the WAPC. SPP 4.2, and represents a new strategic direction for the Perth Metropolitan Area which aims to realise the benefits of a more consolidated city, which include:

A reduced overall need for travel;

Support for the use of public transport, cycling and walking for access to services, facilities and employment; and

A more energy efficient urban form.

To achieve the strategic objectives of SPP 4.2 and Directions 2031 and Beyond, the proposed Commercial Strategy (and any review of the City’s draft Housing Strategy) will need to consider all aspects of SPP4.2, including matters previously not covered including:

Integration with public transport;

Employment targets outlined in Directions 2031 and Beyond; Residential dwelling targets set out in SPP 4.2;

Diversity performance targets (excluding residential land uses) for strategic regional centres and finer grained centre design considerations such as: movement networks and associated accessibility; the

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quality of the public realm; and land use mix and any associated synergies or conflicts, particularly opportunities to co-locate land uses within a centre. Sufficient land should be included in the definition of the centre to support a range of uses;

Retail sustainability assessments (RSA); the WAPC has yet to prepare relevant practice guidelines for these;

Physical and spatial characteristics, for example unduly elongated centres or corridors will not be supported. A place based and integrated approach rather than a segregated and zoned approach is recommended; and

Consideration of the significant economic activities undertaken outside the City's commercial/retail centres and alignment with both the City of Joondalup Economic Development Plan 2012 – 2015 and the Directions 2031 Economic Development and Employment Strategy for the North West Sub-Region (when released).

The centres within the City will require centre plans which will need to be consistent with the Model Centre Framework (Appendix 2 of SPP 4.2), the WAPC Structure Plan Preparation Guidelines. The plans may be prepared by local government or the private sector (land owners, developers). Plans should be prepared within three years of the finalisation of SPP4.2 (Strategic Metropolitan Centres only) and structure plans should be endorsed prior to major development being approved. A major development is defined in SPP 4.2 as where the proposed Shop Retail net lettable area of the proposed building is more than 10,000sq.m or extension to existing Shop Retail floorspace is more than 5,000sq.m. Major development is also defined to exclude non-retail uses. Any major development requires a Retail Sustainability Assessment (RSA) unless the proposed Shop Retail floorspace is consistent with a Retail Needs Assessment contained in an endorsed Local Planning Strategy or Structure Plan.

In the absence of a structure plan, major developments need to satisfy the Model Centre Framework. An RSA will also be required where proposals would result in the total shop retail floorspace of a neighbourhood centre exceeding 6,000sq.m or where proposals seek to expand a neighbourhood centre by more than 3,000sq.m of Shop Retail floorspace. An RSA is also required where a proposal seeks to significantly increase the shop retail floorspace beyond the indicative floorspace thresholds contained in an endorsed Local Planning Strategy, where a retail needs assessment has been an input into the identification of the thresholds.

A retail needs assessment should be included in the Local Planning Strategy in order to provide the projected retail needs of the communities in the local government areas and its surrounds. A retail needs assessment forms a major part of this City of Joondalup draft Local Commercial Strategy report.

2.6. Emerging Issues

The nature of retailing changes constantly and these changes are pivotal to the future of activity centres. Emerging issues include:

The growth of big box retailing. This type of store has been used to sell hardware, whitegoods, home wares, electrical goods and liquor. The format has proved successful in Australia and is expected to grow further. The WAPC held the Large Format Retail Forum held in 2005 which ultimately led to the inclusion of section 5.6.1 “Bulky goods retailing and mixed business” in SPP 4.2 which provides the appropriate level of information on how to manage large format retail and the local commercial strategy will need to respond to this, particularly for the Joondalup City Centre and surrounding areas including The Quadrangle. Large format retail areas therefore need to be identified in the City of Joondalup consistent with SPP 4.2 principles. Large format retail is specifically examined in Part C of the Strategy.

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A resurgence of the high street. This has coincided with inner area upgrading and redevelopment. Retail outlets such as cafes, restaurants, niche bookshops and boutique household goods suppliers are now part of the attraction of inner city living and is a sought-after environment for many new developments. These precincts are often associated with Transit-Oriented Design principles.

The growth of franchising. Although there are limited data collected on franchising in Australia, surveys of Australian franchising indicate that around 28% of franchises are in the retail industry (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services 2008) across a wide spread of retail sectors. This may contribute toward design issues or conflicts, particularly where franchise signage or building design is inconsistent with the amenity of a particular activity centre.

Vertical integration of brands. Some retailers (such as Apple, Zara and other luxury apparel retailers, for example) have chosen to own and control more stages of the production and distribution process for a more seamless delivery of their goods. More generally there has been a trend toward the use of ‘house’ brands by retailers, including supermarkets, as a mechanism for increasing profit margins. The Joondalup City Centre, in its role as a Strategic Metropolitan Centre, should actively seek to encourage these types of retailers such as an Apple Store to locate within the Central Core Area. This will contribute toward a greater attraction to the centre both for customers and other businesses.

The increasing attention given to meeting the needs of income-rich but time-poor consumers through extended trading hours and locational convenience that increased competition across the retail industry. This affected the retail product mix, with for example, a growth in pre-prepared and take-away foods.

Technological change, such as scanning and computerisation, enhanced retail productivity by reducing labour input and changing management systems. The scanner at the supermarket checkout and the single operator console at service stations are examples of labour saving technology.

The emergence of online retailing and e-commerce. This has radically altered interactions between consumers and retailers in the industry and provides an alternative means of delivery of each of the above functions and undermines the rationale for a retail outlet in many sectors. It is the major structural change likely to affect the industry in the longer term and its impacts are likely to be substantial.

Potential impacts on activity centres and considerations for policy and strategy at the local level may include:

Across Australia there have been marked job losses in the retail sector as it adjusts to the GFC and online retailing impact. Non-food store based retailing is the most likely casualty with a consequential growth in online retailing jobs (mostly work from home positions). Food and entertainment jobs may increase with an economic upturn. Caution should be applied in calculating jobs associated with increased retail floorspace proposals and a variety of economic scenarios should be tested.

Employment changes will be accompanied by physical changes in activity centres, with an overall reduction in demand for non-food retail floorspace and a re-direction to food and beverage retailing, cafes and restaurants and non-retail personal services. There is likely to be an overall reduction of retail as a proportion of total activity centre floorspace. This might represent an overall reduction in centre floorspace, unless retail floorspace is replaced by other activity, such as cafes and restaurants,

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personal services, medical services and entertainment. There may be a rise in boutique retailing and showrooms which will allow internet consumers to touch and feel the online product.

The environment in an activity centre must offer more than functional access to retail and services – it must be convenient, accessible and attractive and provide multiple reasons not only to go there but also to stay for a length of time. With the exception of very local convenience retailing, this is likely to favour larger centres, including the Joondalup City Centre. This implies the need for flexibility in land use provision and fewer restrictions in the zoning table, with a wide mix of separately identified activities being suitable for inclusion in activity centres. Control should therefore be generally limited to only those activities which have a demonstrable and unmanageable negative (environmental) impact on surrounding uses.

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3. Strategies for Achieving Local Planning Strategy and State Planning Policy 4.2

Outcomes

3.1. Local Planning Strategy Outcomes

The City of Joondalup District Planning Scheme No. 2 came into operation in November 2000. The Planning and Development Act 2005 requires each local government to review its Planning Scheme every five years. To support this review, and in accordance with the Town Planning Regulations 1967, the City has prepared a Local Planning Strategy to support the development of the new district planning scheme. The Local Planning Strategy identifies the preparation of a Commercial Centres Strategy in line with principles of the WA Planning Commission documents Directions 2031 and Beyond (2009) and the Draft Activity Centres Policy (2009) as a key action. Both of these documents are now finalised and this draft Local Commercial Strategy is prepared within the context of the new documents.

Some of the outcomes identified in the draft Local Planning Strategy include:

To ensure there is a suitable level of employment, land and commercial floor space in order to generate the required level of employment;

The Joondalup City Centre has been designated as a Strategic Regional Centre in the final SPP 4.2 for the North-West sector and should be promoted as such. SPP 4.2 identifies that some strategic regional centres have the potential to develop to Primary Centres and the Joondalup City Centre should develop accordingly;

Future employment opportunities should be promoted through the development of the Ocean Reef Marina site, the train station precincts, and through the redevelopment of existing Commercial Centres in established suburbs;

Employment density from the remaining areas of undeveloped employment land (‘greenfield’ sites) within the City as well as from redevelopment opportunities of ‘brownfield’ sites and existing Commercial Centres should be maximised;

Consideration of the role of the various centres in light of the Western Australian Planning Commission document, Draft Activity Centres for Perth and Peel Policy 2009 (now SPP 4.2);

The review of City Policy 3-3 — Centres Strategy and the preparation of Centre Plans should be in accordance with the Draft Activity Centres for Perth and Peel Policy 2009 (now SPP 4.2); and

Plans should be made for the rejuvenation of low-amenity Commercial Centres.

The Local Planning Strategy expresses the intended outcomes with a series of strategies and actions. The draft Local Commercial Strategy generates additional strategies and actions as well as reviewing the relevant strategies and actions contained within the Local Planning Strategy.

3.2. Local Planning Strategies and Actions Review and additional Local Commercial Strategies

The draft City of Joondalup Local Planning Strategy includes a set of strategies and actions under eight themes. Of these themes, the Local Commercial Strategy relates mainly to the following three themes:

Joondalup City Centre

Commercial Centres (Outside the City Centre); and Employment.

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1. LPS Theme- Joondalup City Centre

Vision statement 1 is that the Joondalup City Centre will drive the economic growth of the City and become an economic anchor for the North West Sub-Region. This vision is certainly consistent with the State policy direction. This vision can be achieved through implementation of the Local Planning Strategies:

 Promoting the City as a place for major regional offices;  Supporting industrial growth;

 Ensuring development standards are conducive to developing the CBD as a primary centre and retail hub of the region;

 Providing an adequate supply of public parking; and

 Providing diverse retail experiences from markets to speciality to Department Stores.

Vision statement 2 is to facilitate the cultural and entertainment hub of the North West Sub-Region. Again this is consistent with State policy and can be achieved in part through the Local Planning Strategy but can be strengthened through additional Commercial Strategies.

Vision statement 3 is for the city to be a place for people. This is consistent with the State containment and connected City Strategy and is supported through the Local Housing Opportunity Areas and the draft Joondalup City Centre Structure Plan which seeks to intensify development. Additional population in the CBD will also support additional commercial and retail trade in the city zones.

Vision statement 4 acknowledges the need to address the natural environment and achieve sustainable development. The land identified for redevelopment and intensification in the centre zones provides a major opportunity to realise this vision which can be supported through commercial and residential development.

Additional Commercial Strategies to Support Joondalup City Centre

Additional strategies for Joondalup City Centre in this Local Commercial Strategy to support the Local Planning Strategy are:

Strategies:

 Lot amalgamation is to be encouraged;

 Further subdivision and strata titling of activity centres should not be supported and mechanisms to prevent this are to be investigated

 Expansion of commercial and retail activity, particularly bulky goods, should not further reduce the overall quantity of industrial use floorspace as identified by the City of Joondalup 2008 survey and mechanisms to help retain appropriate industrial uses will be investigated. Large format retail and its distribution within the City has been examined, in conjunction with the distribution of Commercial Office within Part C of the Strategy;;

 Offices should not be located on land zoned for industry except where incidental to or servicing industrial developments. Commercial office and its distribution within the City has been examined within Part C of the Strategy;

 Encourage intensification of uses in the CBD above the current 1,800sq.m per hectare level, up to an average intensity of above 2000sq.m per hectare in the city zones and mechanisms to promote this will be investigated

 Encourage the integration of a University Town based in and around intensification of the ECU campus. Such a development should include the provision of commercial and residential floorspace and high

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levels of sustainable/energy efficient built form. The ECU Master planning process should be encouraged and supported by the City;

 Facilitate additional development diversity in the central city areas with an additional 600,000sq.m of residential, commercial and retail floorspace through optimising development opportunities identified in the draft Joondalup City Centre Structure Plan;

 Encourage small format commercial and retail opportunities (sub 40sq.m) through leasing and tenancy arrangement rather than strata or subdivision to include, convenience micro-markets and specialty food outlets, home work/living spaces, artisan outlets, retail incubators and speciality arcades, in tandem with appropriate parking provisions, particularly within the designated Joondalup train station TOD precincts (where all other requirements are met subject to Council policy);

 Ensure the landscape masterplan for the city is consistent with the plans for additional intense development and maintain high amenity levels, Designing Out Crime Guidelines, water sensitive design and district water and drainage management principles which can be applied as the city develops and intensifies; and

 Encourage and promote opportunities for kiosk and cart trade zones and street performance in pedestrian precincts as a means of developing occasional market and event related activity. Mechanisms to promote this will be investigated.

2. LPS Theme- Commercial Centres (Outside the City Centre)

The vision statement is that the City commercial centres will be accessible to residents, attractive and successful. This vision is consistent with the State’s aim to increase self-sufficiency and sustainable communities, to reduce the need for car travel and to allow intensification in selected neighbourhoods with development potential. The vision will be supported by the Local Planning Strategy and Local Housing Opportunity areas. The vision will be further supported by the centre hierarchy and floorspace requirements proposed in the Commercial Strategy.

Additional Commercial Strategies to Support Commercial Centres Outside the Joondalup City Centre Additional strategies for Activity Centres outside the Joondalup City Centre in this Local Commercial Strategy to support the Local Planning Strategy are:

Strategies:

 Lot amalgamation is to be encouraged where possible further subdivision and strata titling of activity centres should not be supported and mechanisms to prevent this are to be investigated;

 Expansion of commercial and retail activity, particularly bulky goods, should not further reduce the overall quantity of industrial use floorspace as identified by the City of Joondalup 2008 survey and mechanisms to help retain appropriate industrial uses will be investigated. Large format retail and its distribution within the City has been examined, in conjunction with the distribution of Commercial Office within Part C of the Strategy;

 Where Activity Centre Structure Plans are not required, centres should consolidate vacant land and build to increase height where appropriate before extending beyond current boundaries to discourage ad-hoc commercial development;

 Where additional retail and /or commercial floorspace cannot be supported as a viable option, consideration should be given to residential development (including aged care) and short stay tourist accommodation on vacant and underutilised land and apartments or home based businesses on upper floors consistent with the Local Housing Strategy;

 Review parking requirements for centres with significant public transport access (bus and rail) and/or opportunities for shared parking consistent with SPP 4.2 guidelines;

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 Public realm upgrade of centres should be consistent with Designing Out Crime Guidelines and water sensitive design principles; and

 Further studies including tenancy surveys and infrastructure services are recommended for the following centres which appear to be trading poorly, have significant vacant and underutilised land or which are in need of public realm upgrade, to determine priority actions and strategies required for revitalisation of each centre:

- Coolibah Plaza, redevelopment opportunity;

- Heathridge, under trading, strata titled, redevelopment opportunity; - Ocean Reef, potential for additional upper storeys/mixed use development; - Beldon, redevelopment potential but should be private sector led;

- Canham Way (Greenwood Plaza), potential redevelopment of southern section to act as catalyst for general ’facelift’ subject to ensuring an appropriate quantity of service industrial uses are maintained;

3. LPS Theme- Employment

The Employment vision statement aims to achieve greater employment self-sufficiency. This vision supports the State’s policy and will support the public transport network particularly the rail system to the City of Joondalup. The Local Planning Strategy is to establish greater diversity and office and service based land uses in the CBD and to capture embryonic businesses through facilitating home based business, incubators and local medical and tourism facilities in appropriate locations. The Local Planning Strategy will support SPP 4.2 and the self-sufficiency goal of 60% for the North West Sub-Region and also and the hierarchy of centres. The vision will be further supported by the floorspace and diversity requirements proposed in the Commercial Strategy.

Additional Commercial Strategies

Additional strategies to achieve employment targets in the draft Local Commercial Strategy that will support the Local Planning Strategy are shown below.

Strategies:

 In order to achieve the self-sufficiency target of 60% or an additional 69,000 jobs in the North West Sub-Region of which 20,000 are to be in the City of Joondalup, the priority is on attracting businesses and employment to the Joondalup City Centre which is the most viable location with appropriate development capacity and where the greatest agglomeration and additional economic benefit can be derived;

 Tourism and local recreation opportunities along the coast should be optimised and diversified for local, domestic and international visitors;

 Adequate provision must be made through review of DPS 2 for at least 20,000 new dwellings within the CBD, the Housing Opportunity Areas and infill sites, which will support population driven employment and support higher levels of employment self-containment; and

 Scheme and policy initiatives to promote and support appropriate home based business sector will be investigated.

3.3. State Planning Policy 4.2 Outcomes

Achievement of SPP 4.2 outcomes will be enabled by incorporating the main elements of the draft Local Commercial Strategy into a new Local Planning Strategy and District Planning Scheme.

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The draft Local Commercial Strategy is to be read in conjunction with the revised Local Planning Strategy, DPS and Local Economic Development Strategy (currently under review). Together this suite of documents provides ample direction and guidance for the future development of the City of Joondalup consistent with State policy and particularly SPP 4.2 regarding Activity Centres.

Furthermore, guidance is to be provided to development applications in the CBD through the finalisation of the Joondalup City Centre Structure Plan.

Specifically Parts A and B of the Local Commercial Strategy cover the following requirements of SPP 4.2:

Confirmed the data baseline for retail needs assessment and retail sustainability assessments; Confirmed the centre hierarchy, floorspace and diversity requirements for the city; and

Identify additional commercial strategy considerations for integration within the Local planning Strategy and District Planning scheme.

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4. Recommendations Measures and Provisions – District Planning Scheme and

Local Planning Strategy

4.1. District Planning Scheme

The District Planning Scheme was gazetted in 2000 and is due for review. The review will integrate the latest State policy principles on Growth and Settlement SPP3, on developing a connected region with specific housing targets under Directions 2031 and Beyond, the revised R-Codes integrating the Multi Housing Code and at a local level the revised Local Planning Strategy, Economic Development Strategy, Housing Opportunity Areas and the latest guidance on Commercial centres from SPP 4.2 and the Local Commercial Strategy. The structure and content of the revised Scheme should be consistent with the Model Scheme Text.

Whilst it is not the purpose of the Local Commercial Strategy to review the text of the current scheme in its entirety, some guidance has been formulated regarding matters pertinent to commercial development, with the aim of allowing greater flexibility for entrepreneurial activity and trends in commercial and retail development and to remove any impediments to economic and employment growth.

4.2. Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives in the scheme should reference the Local Planning Strategy and associated supporting documents to give weight to the analysis and recommendations which will form part of the decision making framework.

4.3. Zones

A significant issue experienced by developers in the Perth Metropolitan area is the inconsistency of planning schemes and the consequences of this are that some developments that may be approved in one jurisdiction would not be approved under similar circumstances in another jurisdiction. The Local Planning Manual (March 2010) seeks to provide a more uniform approach to planning strategies and schemes and suggests zones for common uses in local planning schemes. In addition, SPP 4.2 has introduced R-Codes related specifically to the larger centres in the hierarchy with an aim of intensifying the density over and above that which might be within the normal suburban range. The R-AC codes are similar to the Inner City coding. In Recommendation: The structure and content of the District Planning Scheme should be revised consistent with the Model Scheme text.

Recommendation: The aims and objectives should include a separate set of economy and employment objectives:

 Maintain and support the primacy of the Joondalup City Centre area as the Strategic Regional Centre in the centre hierarchy;

 Promote development which increases employment opportunities close to living places (currently under Land Use and Development);

 Promote development which increase the diversity of the employment mix within the City, particularly in the Strategic Regional Centre; and

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addition the RD Codes integrates the multi-unit housing code for locations with medium densities. Where the multi-unit code is not appropriate, for example for heritage reasons, the exception should be identified within the Scheme and Scheme Maps.

In terms of a commercial strategy, it would therefore be reasonable for the City of Joondalup to revise the zones to achieve a more consistent alignment with the Local Planning Manual suggested zones.

If the zones are revised to be more consistent with the Local Planning manual as suggested this would result in a total of approximately nine zones. In terms of SPP 4.2, the zones would align with the centre hierarchy types located within the City and would likely provide a more robust framework for centre development with definitions of zones aligning with definitions of centre types as per SPP 4.2.

4.4. General Development Requirements

Building setbacks for non-residential development should be reviewed in line with structure planning exercises as a ‘one size fits’ provision all is not conducive to small lot and small format retailing and the aim of creating a lively ‘high street’ appeal to the strategic centre and larger centres outside the CBD. The provision clearly allows for a standard approach to grade frontage parking, but some innovation may be possible in some locations and provisions should encourage a less intrusive parking format wherever possible.

Similarly the parking standards should be varied where the location of development supports the use of public transport, for example in the TOD locations alongside the train stations, or where specific incubator style retail and offices and small format speciality shopping is proposed. Another option is the identification of sites for multi decked parking stations to which cash contributions in lieu can be made. There is also a trend towards ‘unbundling’ car parking from high density residential development and as a separately purchased option associated with affordable housing. A review of parking standards and response to emerging high street and medium to high density housing trends should be integrated into Table 2 and the associated Scheme Text.

Landscape requirements should also reflect emerging trends in water sensitive design and centre regeneration in a high street format. The standard approach to curtilage landscape around each development lot may be less appropriate in the future. Structure planning should consider street frontages as a whole and landscape solutions should be related to the form and function of the specific location and centre hierarchy.

Recommendation: Revise current zones in the Scheme and the Zoning Table (Table 1) to be more consistent with Local Planning Manual guidelines, revised R-Codes and SPP 4.2.

Recommendations:

 Building setbacks for non-residential development should be reviewed in line with structure planning exercises;

 A review of parking standards and response to emerging high street and medium to high density housing trends should be integrated into Table 2 and the associated Scheme Text; and  Structure planning should consider street frontages as a whole and landscape solutions should

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4.5. Matters to be Considered by Council

4.6. Structure Plans

The WAPC has released guidance in 2011 on the structure and content of structure plans which should be referred to.

SPP 4.2 outlines the activity centre types that require an activity centre structure plan approved by the WAPC. These include strategic metropolitan centres and secondary centres and district centres if the floorspace exceeds 20,000sq.m Shop Retail. The centres in the City of Joondalup required to have an activity centre structure plan endorsed by the Western Australian Planning Commission are:

1. Joondalup City Centre; 2. Whitfords; and 3. Warwick.

If any of the district centres in the City proposes to increase the Shop Retail floorspace beyond 20,000sq.m then this would trigger the need for the preparation of an activity centres structure plan in alignment with SPP 4.2 policy. For all other centres an activity centre structure plan is not required, however SPP 4.2 suggests a specific area plan may be required by local government. For some centres less than 20,000sq.m, the City may still recommend that a structure plan may be more appropriate.

4.7. DPS Schedule 1 Interpretations

4.8. DPS

The Local Planning Strategy should be referred to in the District Planning Scheme as providing a list of activity centres, position in the retail hierarchy and indicative maximum Shop Retail floorspace determined by a retail needs assessment. This would enable changes to the Local Planning Strategy, including revisions to the retail needs assessment, without requiring scheme amendments.

4.9. Local Planning Strategy

The Local Planning Manual recommends that the preparation of a Local Planning Strategy is formulated in conjunction with the preparation of a new scheme to enable both to be advertised at the same time and modified consistently. The strategy generally incorporates any update of existing strategy such as the housing

Recommendation: Reference should be made in the scheme to the centre hierarchy, centre diversity requirements and employment generation proposals in the context of the Local Planning Strategy and specifically the Local Commercial Strategy.

Recommendation: Ensure that activity structure plans are prepared and endorsed by the WAPC where required under SPP 4.2.

Recommendation: The interpretations in the Scheme should be consistent with the Model Scheme Text and Regulations in order to provide consistency and certainty to developers.

Recommendation: Tthe District Planning Scheme to include Strategy Map and indicative retail floor spaces in LPS.

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and commercial strategy. The City is well placed to achieve this with an updated housing strategy and this local commercial strategy both able to be incorporated into a new local planning strategy.

Recommendation: Revise Local Planning Strategy to incorporate the draft Local Commercial Strategy taking account of the strategies contained in section 3.2 of this Part B report.

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5. Implementation

5.1. Strategy Plan

The Strategy Plan consists of a table (see the following Table 3) outlining all activity centres within the City of Joondalup, their recommended position in the retail hierarchy, the indicative Shop Retail floorspace thresholds, the current overall health of the centre (from the draft Local Commercial Strategy Part A report) and other individual centre considerations. To enable the implementation of the draft Local Commercial Strategy, a spatial map showing the location of each activity centre has also been included (see following Figure 2).

It is anticipated that the activity centres, position in the retail hierarchy and indicative Shop Retail floorspace thresholds will be used to inform a revised Schedule 3 from the District Planning Scheme. A revised City of Joondalup Local Planning Strategy would also consider including Figure 2 and Table 3 as a minimum.

This Part B – Shop Retail Assessment report provides the necessary detail to inform the Local Planning Strategy in terms of guiding future shop retail development within the City of Joondalup. Further detail and research on the range of issues influencing future shop retail development in the City is provided in the Part A - Background Research, Economic Analysis and Retail Needs Assessment report. Additional analysis and research on the need for and distribution of Bulky Goods/Large format retail and commercial office development is included in Part C of the Strategy.

Draft Local Commercial Strategy Part B Shop Retail Assessment